Screened at the 2015 London Film Festival where it was hailed as “close to being an instant classic” by the Evening Standard, Couple in a Hole follows a Scottish couple who decamped to the French countryside after their previous home was destroyed by a wildfire.
John (Paul Higgins) and Karen (Kate Dickie) eke out a simple, almost feral existence in the woods; foraging for food, water and resources and staying away from the villagers in the valley below. Their response to the fire seems excessive, but gradually the film reveals reasons for the depth of their trauma – and when concerned local farmer Andre (Jérôme Kircher) tries to help them, their relationship becomes fragile and unstable, leading to a violently emotional climax.
Directed by Belgian filmmaker Tom Geens (Menteur) and with a woozy, subliminal score composed by Geoff Barrow of Portishead, Couple in a Hole is a highly original, left-field study – both moving and darkly funny – of two people held in the grip of a heartbreaking grief.
A poignant and freshly told film about the devastating power of isolation
Benjamin Lee, Guardian
****
